BACK OF BEYOND

Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.

Corvus

RRP: £7.99

Released: 2nd August 2011

Hdbk

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Montana cop Cody Hoyt is a man with problems, a divorced recovering drunk with a less than comfortable relationship with his superiors and a reputation for being a maverick. All this before his AA sponsor is found dead in a burnt out cabin and Hoyt accidentally shoots the county coroner.Investigating the death of his sponsor Hoyt uncovers links with similar crimes across the US and a trail party crossing Yellowstone National Park where one of the riders is a murderer; worse yet Hoyt’s son is also a member of the party. To resolve the case Hoyt has to battle his own demons, possible treachery on the part of his fellow officers and the unforgiving landscape of the west. As with last year’s hugely enjoyable Blue Heaven friendship, self reliance and the search for personal redemption are key themes in this novel. As is a strong sense of morality, in the world of CJ Box doing the right thing matters more than doing what might be easiest, though to his credit he doesn’t bash readers over the head with the point. He keeps the plot moving along briskly, creates rounded characters with convincing problems and writes with real knowledge about the brutal beauty of the American wilderness. His action sequences are convincingly stage managed and the ending in the back of beyond referred to in the title has a nicely ironic twist to it. This is another assured performance from a writer who is fast building a reputation as one of the most formidable talents currently at work in the thriller genre.